Ardour – record, edit, and mix

Ardour is a powerful digital audio workstation designed for recording, editing, mixing and arranging audio and MIDI. It is suitable for anything from straightforward multitrack recording to complex studio production, sound design and audio-for-video work.

The software combines a non-linear timeline with an extremely flexible mixer and routing system. Tracks and buses can carry arbitrary combinations of channels, while sends, inserts and returns make it possible to construct complex signal paths without imposing a fixed mixer architecture.

Ardour has also developed into a capable MIDI production environment. MIDI can be edited inline, in a dedicated pianoroll window or in the editor’s lower pane, with tools for chords, quantization, velocity, controllers, transposition and other note operations. Recent releases have added key and scale awareness, including the ability to highlight or prevent out-of-scale notes.

This is free and open source software.

Key Features

• Record and edit an effectively unlimited number of audio and MIDI tracks and buses, subject to available hardware resources.
• Non-destructive audio editing with unlimited undo and redo, including trimming, splitting, stretching, crossfades and region-based operations.
• Flexible MIDI editing with inline, pianoroll and lower-pane editors, together with chord editing, quantization, transposition and controller automation.
• Key and scale support with visualization of out-of-scale notes and optional correction of MIDI input.
• Clip launching and recording for workflows that combine non-linear cue-based performance with the conventional timeline.
• Region FX applies plugin processing directly to individual audio regions.
• Highly flexible mixer with unrestricted signal routing, sends, inserts, returns, submixing and multichannel tracks.
• Sample-accurate automation for mixer controls and plugin parameters.
• Supports LADSPA, LV2, Linux VST2 and VST3 plugins on Linux.
• Software instruments, audio effects and MIDI processors can all be incorporated into a session.
• Support for MIDI Timecode, LTC, MIDI Machine Control, MIDI clock and JACK transport synchronization.
• Extensive hardware control support including Mackie Control, Generic MIDI, MIDI Learn and OSC.
• Video timeline with synchronized playback, frame thumbnails and soundtrack export.
• Imports and exports a wide range of audio formats and works with arbitrary sample rates and bit depths.
• Cross-platform support – runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows.

Website: ardour.org
Support:
Developer: Paul Davis and many contributors
License: GNU General Public License v2.0

Ardour is written in C++. Learn C++ with our recommended free books and free tutorials.

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